Like millions of other Americans, Peters' major financial asset is his home. Several years ago, he used a loan borrowed against the 'handyman's special' he bought for $52,000 in 1982 to try to kick-start a new business leasing out used limousines, but the venture failed. “It was a disaster - I lost it all. The drivers were too unreliable. If it wasn't for that, my mortgage would've been paid off.”
Peters is now pinning everything on renovating the property and selling it for more than $350,00. [link to film]. This would allow him to buy a new property upstate, or simply give him the financial freedom he has craved for decades. Working on his home has not been easy though. When he bought the property, the plan was to fix it up with his son. They were making steady progress until 2000, when the son was killed in an accident with a drunk driver.
His life in New York is somewhat solitary now, he has little contact with his surviving son and a daughter from outside his marriage. A close network of friends that he considers to be his family is spread out across the U.S. and he hopes tying up the loose ends of his financial commitments will allow him to spend his time visiting them.
Good value
"I'm really not that interesting," says Walter Peters as we record an interview inside his Lincoln Town Car. Later that evening he recounts the finer details from one of 13 armed robberies he has faced in 40 years driving cabs. This particular episode ended with a bullet lodged in Peters' lung that remains to this day. The 65-year-old ex-marine and former motorcycle gang member with a degree in psychology has enough life experiences to pen an intriguing novel. Instead, he is writing a rhyming verse narrative about an invincible car. In my book, that's interesting.
Wake-up call
It’s Friday night, and I’m off-duty. But when Walter Peters rings you want to pick up. “This economic situation is changing everything,” he reports. I find a quiet corner to hear Peters’ readjusted priorities in light of the tough times. Up the list is renovating his house. As soon as the economy improves he’s selling. Less immediate concerns – writing, buying used cars – are moving down the ladder of importance.
—Joe Jackson
Despite the continued downward spiral in house prices and wider economic gloom, Peters remains optimistic that by the end of next year he could be out of the city and penning a book. He has always been a poet and has a finished manuscript he refers to as "the longest poem in the world."
"What if none of this works? Then what will I do? I guess I'll do what I've always dreamed of and be a writer," he said. "People tell me they love my writing, it's fabulous, I should drop everything and just work on that. I tell them, yeah, but if I drop everything, what will I eat tomorrow? So, if none of this works out, that's what I'll do, I'll be a homeless novelist."
Biermann admits that Peters’ vision of escaping the city may never be realized. "I'm not sure it's going to be a sellers' market any time soon or if he'll be able to do up his house on his own. But he's always been a dreamer."
